I am pleased to provide this thirteenth annual report as executive director of the Association of University Presses (AUPresses), spanning fiscal year 2024-2025. I make it a practice to review prior annual reports before setting fingers to keyboard, and I am struck anew by the starkly different context in which I find myself composing this message. The recklessness, lawlessness, and just plain cruelty that assumed the levers of US federal power on January 20th, to say nothing of the chaos which has ensued, have permeated nearly every aspect of our professional and personal lives. From the attacks on higher education through the gutting of federal grants and research programs to the lie-fueled assault on DEI, the infrastructure our community (among so many others) depends on has been upended utterly. It is a challenge not to feel overwhelmed—which of course is part of the intention.
But we know that the world really does only spin forward, and that like all beautiful creatures we know there is no choice but to continue the Great Work (apologies to Kushner). And so we have. Right after the 2024 US presidential election we assembled a democracy-themed reading list. As the new administration unleashed a torrent of actions inimical to our members’ interests and/or our Core Values, we’ve signed onto numerous statements of opposition issued by kindred organizations. In particular, we’re paying close attention to the attempted destruction of the National Endowment for the Humanities, working with the National Humanities Alliance (on whose board of directors I serve) to seek restoration of cancelled grants and resumption of statutorily-mandated activities. We’ve solicited advice from tariffs experts. And we created spaces for colleagues to gather, to process their disorientation, and to identify practical next steps for their presses and the community.
And this Great Work will move forward. At some point we expect efforts will pivot from letters and statements to court rooms and amicus briefs. We will continue providing our US members with legislative alerts at both the federal and state level. We will continue to advocate for the interests of our non-US members in this moment of global uncertainty. And we will continue to offer each other grace and support when a day is hard.
Of course, the first several months of FY2025 unfolded more normally for us, and I’d be remiss if I didn’t devote some attention to those normal bits.
I’m happy to report that the AUPresses community continues to grow: as of this writing we added four new presses to our membership in FY2025, and welcomed returning member Monash University Press, bringing the total count to a record 164. Moreover, four additional applications are pending final approval at the 2025 annual business meeting. Additionally, there are over a half-dozen requested membership applications outstanding. As I’ve noted in several recent annual reports, interest in joining the AUPresses community is expanding globally, reflecting the increasingly global nature of scholarly communications; I’ll write more about this shortly.
Through the labor of more than 160 volunteer committee members, supported by an exceptional Central Office staff, the Association works to implement the strategic direction set by the Board of Directors. We are halfway through the three-year refresh of our Strategic Plan, making good strides on our latest set of Tactics; you’ll hear more about these below and and you’ll see evidence of the plan in action in throughout this report.
Having mentioned my Central Office colleagues, I’ll take a moment here to share once again my tremendous admiration and respect for all of them—individually and as a collective. I have never worked with a more consistently capable, resourceful, and motivated team, and it is a privilege to be associated with McKenzi, Trevor, Kate, Annette, Alexis, Brenna, and Kim.
On the financial side of the house, as in the two prior years, we closed the fiscal year with an operating deficit slightly larger than budgeted; also as in prior years, investment income more than covered this shortfall, and the Association’s financial position remains solid. The year ended with a net operating loss of $168k, against a budgeted -$72k. Our overall financial health is best reflected in our Balance Sheet, which records a $15k increase in Total Equity over the prior period. As always, I would direct you to the Operating Statement and Balance Sheet for complete details of our financial performance. A final note: based on the advice from outside counsel indicating that the Association is not covered by a New York law requiring annual audits, we’ve moved to a triennial audit cycle, commencing with the fiscal year that has just closed.
Over the past year I have represented AUPresses at meetings of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL), the Association of Canadian University Presses (ACUP), NISO, the Society or Scholarly Publishers (SSP), the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP), UKSG, the Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), the Book Industry Study Group (BISG), the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the Charleston Conference, the London and Frankfurt Book Fairs, and the Research to Reader Conference. I participate in BISG’s Association Advisory Council and serve on the Steering Group of the Coalition for Diversity and Inclusion in Scholarly Communications (C4DISC) and the Participating Organization Council for Knowledge Commons (KC). Along with colleagues from Liverpool and Edinburgh, I co-chair ALPSP’s University Press Special Interest Group (SIG). This past January saw my ninth year of service as a judge for the Association of American Publishers’ PROSE Awards. I was able to arrange an enjoyable and especially informative press visit with the University of Guam that same month. I serve on the board of Directors of the National Humanities Alliance and the Executive Committee of the Seminary Co-op Bookstores. You’ll find details of other service to partners in the larger publishing and scholarly communities in the Peer Organizations and Global Community sections of this report.
On the programming front, it’s always a felicitous challenge deciding which of a year’s accomplishments to highlight in this report. And despite its difficulties, this past year presents an embarrassment of riches.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) of course dominated the agenda in FY2025. The Association sought numerous opportunities to help members engage with both the risks and opportunities this new technology presents, including an informative session at the Press Directors Meeting in Montréal and the launch of a new set of resources on UP Commons. In addition, we separately filed comments with both the UK and the US governments asserting the primacy of content creators’ intellectual property rights in response to proposals to allow technology companies to train their AI large language models without obtaining a rightsholder’s permission.
The increasing globalization of research, and along with it scholarly communications, continues to transform AUPresses from a primarily North American organization into a truly international one. And while such a transition is never without bumps (time zones!), FY2025 saw progress and opportunities in several areas. In April, we submitted our first-ever response to a UK government consultation on expanding the Research Excellence Framework’s (REF) current open access mandate to include monographs; our filing proposed a novel funding mechanism for the proposed mandate: require institutions receiving REF block-grants to devote a percentage of those grants to publishing costs. In June, the Association fully sponsored three staff from Ukrainian university presses to travel to Montréal and collaborate with us. In July, 2024-25 president Anthony Cond (Liverpool) appointed a new Global Partnerships Task Force to help us better understand the landscape for university press publishing in the Global South, to identify opportunities for us to support capacity-building and sustainability for Global South presses, and to ensure that our efforts are grounded in equity and anti-colonialism; their work continues. Oh, and as I write this, our annual traveling Book, Jacket, and Journal Show added a robust UK leg to its 2025 tour!
I referenced above our progress executing on the refreshed tactics in our Strategic Plan; herewith, a few highlights of work completed during FY2025:
- Launch of University Based Publishing Futures community
- Record participation in the AUPresses Partner Program
- Expansion of our Collective Stand Program to include ACRL and UKSG
- Successful AUPresses 2024 in Montréal
- 2025 in-person Business Operations Meeting consolidated successful restructuring of this seminal event for our community
- 2025 Press Directors Summit Announced
- Record Participation in 2024 University Press Week Gallery
- Return of the Association’s Subject Area Grid!
- Departed X (Twitter) for Bluesky and supported a vibrant community of scholars, librarians, and member presses doing likewise
And of course, as I noted at the outset, we continue to act without hesitation in our community’s interests when faced with political attacks.
As repeat readers will be aware, it is my practice to end my report each year with a reminder that the Central Office stands ready to support and assist any member facing institutional adversity. This advice seems especially relevant in the current environment—I’ve already heard from some of our members affiliated with departments or agencies of the US government. I hope all of you continue to keep this essential member benefit in mind should you find yourself facing institutional or governmental scrutiny.
All best,
Peter Berkery
Executive Director, AUPresses